Dough forming device



July 10, 1945. E. T. ERSEPKE DOUGH FORMING DEVICE Filed May 3, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l f N5 mm r W w T w 6 .5

--J I I I l I 1 I I 1 I I) :1}: Y I

Z v, 9 1 gi July 10, 1945. E. T. ERSEPKE 2,379,956

DOUGH FORMING DEVICE Filed May 3, 1944 2 Sh'ets-Sheet 2 l 9 IN V EN TOR.

EO/VZl/YD Z E/PSEP/fE.

BY .A

Patented July 10, 1945 UNITED DOUGH FORMING DEVICE Edmund T. Ersepka san Francisco, Calif. Application May 3, 1944, Serial No. 533,959

2 Claims. (Cl.

The present invention relates to improvements in a dough-forming and dispensing device wherein a feeding worm rotatably mounted within a vertically disposed hopper having a normally open dough-forming discharge port in the botproved device of the character set forth having improved means for forming doughnuts, rolls, and the like, from raw dough;

A further object is to provide a new and im-- proved device of the typedescribed in which a predetermined mass of rough dough may be severed, during extrusion, at one or more regular intervals to provide varying amounts or sections.

A still further object is to provide a new and improved doughnut or roll forming device hav ing greatly simplified and improved means for automatic ally relieving undue back-pressure upon o a mass of dough being extruded and severed.

I accomplish these and other objects by means of the improved device disclosed in the drawings forming a part of the present application, and in whicha Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the device in open or extruding position;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental or broken sectional view of the lower portionof Fig. l, with the parts in closed or cutting position.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device, disclosing the nested cams;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental sectional view of a modified form of the device for producing fiat dough ribbons, for rolls;

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken at right angles to Fig. 4; v

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. 4 but disclosing the same in closed or severing position;

Fig. 7 is a broken plan view of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 8 is a broken detail of one of the actuating cams.

Referring to the drawings:

The numeral I is used to designate in general a hopper having an open dough-forming disthereof.

worm or feeding device 3 is rotatably mounted STATES PATENT OFFICE charge port 2,,preferably circular, in the bottom A vertically disposed hollow-stemmed within said hopper l and has the hollow stem or shaft 4 thereof extended upwardly and exteriorly of the top of the hopper I, as fully disclosed in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The stem 4 is provided with anannular shoulder 6 upon which is seated a bevel gear 1 meshing with and driven by a pinion 8 in turn actu ated by a source of power, not shown.

The periphery of the worm 3 is slightly smaller than the internal portion or interior of the hopper I so that said worm 3 is held substantially in slight spaced relation to the interior of said hopper I, the purpose of which will hereinafter bemorefully set forth. i

Arranged to move into and out of the doughforming discharge port 2 of the hopper I is an exterior valve, die or cutter 9 having a stem ll slidably mounted within and passing upwardly through the hollow shaft 4 of the worm 3 and above the top of said ,hollow shaft. The upper end of the stem ll is provided, above the hollow stem 4, with laterally extended pins l2 which are operatively engaged by a lever I4 fulcrumed as at l6 to the top of 2. lug or standard 11 on the top of thehopper l, the free end of i said lever [4 being provided with a shoe Id which normally rides upon the edges of nested cups I!) provided with registering or matching cams 2i and adjustably held upon and to the gear 1 by means of a nut 22, the purpose of which hereinafter will more fully appear. i

The cutter or die 9 and its centrally disposed stem II are round so that the same, operating in conjunction with the circular dough-forming discharge port 2, will form a tubular extrusion of raw dough, when said raw dough is forced therethrough by operation of the feed worm 3, which dough tube, when severed at regular intervals later described, will form dough rings or a doughnut.

In Figs, 4 to 7, inclusive, I have illustrated a modified form of the invention in which the dough-forming discharge port 2' is rectangular or square in shape and the cutter or die 24 is shaped to match and is further provided with inwardly extending wings. or flanges 26 on opposite sides thereof so that when said cutter or die 24 is fully opened or away from the port 2,

oppositely positioned side slots are formed through which raw dough may be extruded by operation of the feed worm 3 in the formof flat ribbons for the production of rolls and other forms of pastry.

In operation; Raw dough, not shown, is fed into thehopper I in any convenient manner, and rotation of thegear I, through the hollow stem 4, will rotate the worm 3 and normally extrude raw dough through the dough-forming discharge port 2, or 2', and around the head of the cutter or die 9 arranged in open or spaced relation thereto, thus extruding a tube of dough arranged to be severed into rings or doughnuts by the closing of said cutter or die 9.

The die or cutter 9 may be closed to sever extruded raw dough at one or more regular intervals during each rotation of the worm 3, as desired, according to the consistency of the dough cutter or die 9 is moved into the dough-forming discharge port 2 and extruded dough is severed in the form of a ring or a doughnut. It is understood that the severed, ring, indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings, may be dropped upon a conveyor, not shown, or into a. frying vat, not shown, according to the nature of the product, to be produced.

In the case of the rectangular or square discharge port 2 and cutter or die 2.4 cooperating therewith, the same method as above described may be followed, but the result will be flat slabs or ribbons of raw dough instead of rings.

It should be particularly noted that the rotationof the gear 1 and. cams 2i thereon will cause a, closing of, either die for a really brief period during each rotation of the worm 3, but should any undue back pressure develop during this brief period, such pressure may be partly relieved, if not entirely, by the fact that the worm 3 is in spaced relation to the interior of the hopper so that any excess pressure will tend to squeeze the dough, not shown, back through the annular space between said worm 3 and hopper I, thereby automatically preventing undue strain uponthe. device.

Havin described my invention, I claim:

1. A dough-forming and dispensing device comprising a vertically disposed hopper having a dough-forming discharge port in the bottom thereof; a hollow stemmed worm rotatably mounted within said hopper and having its periphery arranged in slight spaced relation to the interior of said hopper; a cutter arranged to move into and out of saiddischarge port and having a stem slidably mounted through said hollow stemmed worm; a plurality of nested and matching cams adjustably connected to said worm and cutter'stem and arranged to actuate said cutter t one or more intervals during each to the interior of said hopper; a cutter arranged to move into and out of said port and having a stem slidably mounted through and extending above said worm and h pper; a plurality of nested and matching cams adjustably and operativelygconnected to said worm and to the top ,of said cutter stem and arranged to actuate said cutter at one or more, regular intervals during each rotation of said feeding worm; and means for actuating said feeding worm and cams opertively connected thereto.

EDMUND T. ERSEPKE. 

